Tuesday, May 24, 2011

It’s amazing how quickly the spring season passes. In just three days, DC SCORES programming will wrap up at 26 schools throughout the city with final soccer games and the final touches on service-learning projects.

A week from Saturday, everyone will celebrate a tremendous season with the 17th Annual Jamboree! soccer tournament/extravaganza at Trinity University.

But then what?

For the vast majority of our students, summer means sitting around the house doing nothing while parents and siblings work or wandering the neighborhood. In other words, not a lot of organized activity.

Unless, of course, there is a camp to attend — a free camp.

Each year, we strive to provide three camps for DC SCORES students — and others in need of an organized, safe and productive summer activity. But they’re not funded by our traditional sources.

The importance of kids exercising and staying active during the summer can’t be overstated. According to the National Summer Learning Association, kids gain weight three times as quickly during the summer compared to the school year.

Additionally, DC SCORES camps provide something most kids might take for granted on a hot July day — healthy snacks. Just a $10 donation to Couch to Camp pays for a week’s worth of these snacks for a kid.

Why is this so important? Because according to the Food Research Action Council, only 1 in 5 children who received free or reduced lunch during the school year in 2006 — the most recent year for which data was available — got such assistance during the summer.

For our camp participants — 90 percent of whom receive free or reduced lunch during school — these snacks are almost as vital as the time spent on the soccer field.

It all adds up to a healthy lifestyle.

Please help provide these vital opportunities for more than 200 students by donating today and spreading the word about this worthy and easy-to-help cause. Thank you for your support.